The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus have finally been unveiled. Both devices will go on preorder on 12 September 2015 in a handful of countries, and will go on sale officially on 25 September 2015.

Apple has already released the price of the new iPhones in the countries that will get the first wave of launch, and although Malaysia is not in the list, we’ll attempt to make a prediction for the price of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s in Malaysia based on these prices.

No thanks to how strong the U.S. dollar is right now, the prices of the new iPhones are more expensive than the launch price of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus last year. In fact, the prices now are more expensive even compared to the increased prices of iPhones, which happened in various countries around the world (including Malaysia of course) back in March 2015 (Apple then raised the price of iPhones in Malaysia again in wake of GST implementation back in April 2015).

Take New Zealand for example. The launch price of the iPhone 6 started from NZ$999 but in March 2015 when Apple increased the prices of its iPhones around the world, the company increased the price for New Zealand to NZ$1,079. Now, the launch price of the iPhone 6s starts from NZ$1,199. Of course, this is because the New Zealand dollar hasn’t been doing very well against the U.S. dollar either.

Even Singapore, whose currency seems to be doing quite well, is seeing a price difference for the launch price of the new iPhone 6s / iPhone 6s Plus compared to the launch pf the iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus last year. The retail prices now start from SGD$1,048 compared to SGD$988. Here’s the full price list of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus around the world:

As for Malaysia, if our currency remains this weak against the U.S. dollar, we predict that the new iPhones could start from as much as RM3,199 (the iPhone 6 price last year before price hike and before GST started from RM2,399). The iPhone 6 prices have been revised to RM2,699 for the 16GB version and RM3,199 for the 64GB version, while the iPhone 6 Plus price in Malaysia now starts from RM3,199 for 16GB and RM3,699 for R64GB. Here is our prediction for the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s prices in Malaysia:

16GB iPhone 6s – RM3,199

64GB iPhone 6s – RM3,699

128GB iPhone 6s – RM4,199

16GB iPhone 6s Plus – RM3,699

64GB iPhone 6s Plus – RM4,199

128GB iPhone 6s Plus – RM4,699

These retail prices certainly look very bleak for Malaysians looking to upgrade to the new iPhones. We definitely do not wish to see the highest-end iPhone 6s Plus cross the RM4,500 mark, because for just RM70 more, you will be able to purchase the all-new MacBook or even the base model MacBook Pro 13! For RM4,699, you can even opt for the highest-end model of the MacBook Air 13, and still have RM248 as spare change. Our prediction is based on Apple’s past pricing patterns, and they of course are not indicative of the final RRP – though last year’s predictions proved to be correct despite our own disbelief.